The Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds

Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds -
The Signal from the Hills

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Archibald Lee Fletcher
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Title: Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds
Author: Archibald Lee Fletcher
Release Date: June 5, 2004 [eBook #12526]
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY
SCOUTS IN NORTHERN WILDS***
E-text prepared by Al Haines

BOY SCOUTS IN NORTHERN WILDS
Or, The Signal from the Hills
By
MAJOR ARCHIBALD LEE FLETCHER
Author of
"Boy Scout Rivals; or, A Leader of the Tenderfoot Patrol," "Boy
Scouts on Old Superior; or, The Tale of The Pictured Rocks," "Boy
Scouts' Signal Sender; or When Wigwag Knowledge Paid," "Boy Scout
Pathfinders; or, The Strange Hunt for the Beaver Patrol" etc., etc.
Chicago, 1913

CONTENTS

Chapter
I--A CAMP ON MOOSE RIVER II--THE LITTLE BRASS GOD
III--THE CABIN IN THE SWAMP IV--LOST IN THE STORM V--A
BOY SCOUT TRICK VI--THE CAVE OF THE TWO BEARS
VII--AM EMPTY CAVERN VIII--A TRAPPER'S TREACHERY
IX--TWO HUNGRY BEARS X--BOYS IN A TIGHT PLACE
XI--THE HALF-BREED XII--A SURPRISE AT THE CABIN XIII--A
FACE AT THE WINDOW XIV--A CALL PROM THE DARKNESS
XV--A HUNTING EXPEDITION XVI--ANTOINE ON THE RUN
XVII--"BOYS UP A TREE!" XVIII--A PILLAR OF FIRE XIX--THE
SIGNAL FROM THE HILLS XX--A SIGHT OF THE GOD
XXI--TWO RIFLE SHOTS XXII--THE TWIN BRASS GODS

CHAPTER I
A CAMP ON MOOSE RIVER
Four Boy Scouts, of the Beaver Patrol, Chicago, were in camp on
Moose river. They were all athletic young fellows, not far from
seventeen years of age, and were dressed in the khaki uniform adopted
by the Boy Scouts of America.
If you take a map of the British Northwest Territories and look up
Moose river, you will discover that it runs through nearly three hundred
miles of wilderness, from Lake Missinale to Moose Bay. The reader
will well understand, then, how far "Sandy" Green, Will Smith, George
Benton and Tommy Gregory had traveled from civilization.
The camp of the Boy Scouts was situated some fifty miles up the river
from Moose Factory, a trading point famous in old Indian days for its
adventurous spirits and its profits to the factors. Those who have read
the preceding books of this series will doubtless remember the four
Boy Scouts named above. Together they had visited the Pictured Rocks
of Old Superior, the Everglades of Florida, and the great Continental

Divide.
During all their journeys the boys had shown courage and
resourcefulness beyond their years, and because of these qualities they
had been chosen, by Mr. Horton, a noted criminal lawyer of Chicago,
to undertake a difficult and dangerous mission to the Hudson Bay
country.
They had traveled by way of the Canadian Pacific to Missanabie, from
which point they had proceeded to Lake Missinale. Here they had
purchased a "Mackinaw," a great flat-bottomed craft, in which to
transport their tents and supplies down Moose river to the bay of the
same name.
They had made most of the journey in native canoes, which they had
learned to handle with considerable skill, but now and then they had
taken refuge on the big boat, "just to stretch their limbs," as they
expressed it. They left Chicago late in September and it was now
almost the last of October.
Those who live in the Hudson Bay country declare that they have three
seasons in four months, Spring comes in June, summer in July and
August, and autumn in September. At the southern extremity of James
Bay, October may scarcely be called a winter month, although during
the latter part of the month ice and snow are not infrequent.
The sun was setting on the lads' first day in camp as the boys rested
from their labor of dragging in great quantities of both dry and green
wood. Their tents were of double canvas, specially prepared for cold
weather, and their bedding and suits had constituted an important part
of their baggage.
Almost the entire fronts of the tents were composed of fine, strong silk
mesh-cloth. The faces of the boys were well anointed with grease, and
masks of mesh-cloth hung about the tents ready for use.
Mosquitos and an insect known as the "bull-dog" had driven many a
trapper and hunter out of the swampy regions around Hudson Bay.

During the summer it is almost impossible to live in the swamps of that
country at all. By protecting their tents and faces, and keeping great
"smudges" going, the boys hoped to be able to live in comparative
comfort during their